A photo from the red carpet premiere of 1999's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace has gone viral.
Shared by Twitter user @padm3luvr, the photo depicts two of the film's stars, Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson, standing in front of a poster for 1999's The Phantom Menace. The post, which has since gone viral, poked fun at the "low-budget" nature of the photo, with the caption, "phantom menace had $2 and a dream for a premier."
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was the first of George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy, released in May 1999, almost 16 years after The Return of the Jedi in 1983. Portman starred in The Phantom Menace as a young Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo, with Neeson as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Ewan McGregor as his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jake Lloyd portrayed a young Anakin Skywalker. Overall, with a budget of $115 million, The Phantom Menace grossed $1.027 billion at the box office.
While Neeson's Qui-Gon inevitably perished by the end of the film, McGregor would go on to portray Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent two films, Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). He would later reprise the role for the 2022 Disney+ limited series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. While Portman would portray Padmé in both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, she did not return for a cameo in Disney+'s most recent Star Wars series. Neeson also reprised his role as Qui Gon Jinn in Obi-Wan Kenobi's sixth and final episode for a brief cameo as a force ghost.
While Portman has not returned to the Star Wars franchise, Neeson will reprise his role as Qui Gon Jinn again for the upcoming animated series Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi. Announced by Lucasfilm during Star Wars Celebration 2022, Tales of the Jedi will be comprised of six animated shorts, with each story focusing on a Jedi from the prequel era. While each episode will tell a different story, the show will focus centrally on Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku, with Neeson returning to voice Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Neeson's son will voice a younger Qui-Gon in the series as well.
Tales of the Jedi will mark the second animated Star Wars anthology series for Disney+ after Star Wars: Visions was released in September 2021. The second season of Visions is reportedly in development and is expected to release sometime in 2022. Tales of the Jedi will be available to stream on Disney+ in Fall 2022, though a specific release date has not yet been revealed.
Source: Twitter